The background information is believed, at the time of the filing of this patent application, to adequately provide background information for this patent application. However, the background information may not be completely applicable to the claims as originally filed in this patent application, as amended during prosecution of this patent application, and as ultimately allowed in any patent issuing from this patent application. Therefore, any statements made relating to the background information are not intended to limit the claims in any manner and should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any manner.
Electronic Funds Transfer Point of Sale (EFTPOS) systems have operated for many years. An EFTPOS system is an electronic payment system involving electronic funds transfers based on the use of payment cards, such as debit or credit cards, at terminals located at points of sale. The terminals typically provide a means for entering personal account data into the system. Terminals typically include a magnetic stripe reading device and a keypad integrated with an EFTPOS terminal located at the point of sale. The keypad may provide a customer making a purchase the ability to enter their personal identification number (PIN) associated with their credit or debit card. When making a purchase, a merchant or vendor rings up a total cost of items being purchased and the customer is asked to tender payment. The customer may then swipe their credit or debit card through the magnetic stripe reading device and enter their PIN. The personal account data read from the payment card, PIN, merchant ID/terminal ID, and the total cost of items being purchased are electronically sent to the customer's card issuer for payment with the EFTPOS system.
Many merchants have other electronic point of sale systems in place as well. For example, many merchants have an advertising system and/or a loyalty program system in addition to an EFPTOS system. Many grocery stores, fuel stations, and other stores and restaurants have loyalty programs. Typically, a loyalty program involves the merchant providing incentives to its customers to shop with the merchant, such as in the form of discounts, coupons, or other rewards and incentives. Typically, each customer is given a unique identification loyalty card having a barcode. The customer scans their barcode when making a purchase and their identification information scanned from the barcode and information about the items being purchased is collected. In this way, loyalty programs allow merchants to collect information about their customers' shopping habits and provide rewards accordingly. In addition to rewards and incentives with the loyalty program, advertising systems may provide for sending targeted advertisements to customers, taking into account the collected information about the items being purchased by the customer.
EFTPOS and the other electronic point of sale systems, such as advertising and loyalty program systems, are typically separate systems using separate and different input devices at the point of sale. Consequently, these separate systems typically require additional steps to be taken by a customer making a purchase at the point of sale.